Hi friends! I just bought Lightwish Watercolour Journal on Amazon for CAD$23.99. It is a 100% cotton, cold press (hot press also available) sketchbook with iron ring binding. The 20 sheets are removable, so if you are intimidated by painting in a sketchbook, don’t be! Anyhow, if you are curious whether this is worth your money, please go ahead and read this Lightwish Watercolour Journal review.
First of all, I put this under Lightwish because that was the listing on Amazon. However, the journal I received had the name Potentate printed on it. Anyway, if you want the cold press version, please choose dark grey which is what I have. Lightwish has a lot of quality art supplies at discount prices so I have a lot of high hopes for this one!
You get 20 acid-free, 300gsm 100% cotton sheets of paper in each journal. The texture is the typical cold press.
First Page, No Fear!
Are you afraid of messing up the very first page of a sketchbook to the point of not wanting to use it? Since the sheets can be removed, you can rearrange another page if you wish. With that fear out of the way, I tested the paper with my heaviest washes and threw in plenty of salt and splatters. I just bought Kuretake Gansai Tambi so I was experimenting with it on the paper. It took in a lot of water and paint and in several layers without problems. I was also able to lift and blend really well.
I painted on both sides of the paper and had no trouble at all. The paper warped a bit but that’s normal. It was fairly easy to rework some areas where I didn’t have a good blend, and with the right washi tape the paper did not rip. In addition, the iron ring binding was handy because you can lay the journal completely flat.
Overall Review of Lightwish Watercolour Journal
I really enjoyed using this sketchbook! The paper performed very well. I especially like the iron ring binding because it took away the fear of messing up a page. I am very thankful for brands like Lightwish, Paul Rubens, etc. that produce quality art supplies at affordable prices. If you are in the market for a 100% cotton paper sketchbook, this is a very nice option. This is leaps and bounds better than the Shizen sketchbook I bought, and cheaper too!
